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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24175141">Cease/Less</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsala/pseuds/Katsala'>Katsala</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Amalgam Comics, DC Extended Universe, DCU (Comics), The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley, Young Justice (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Artistic Liberties Taken With Some Characters, Brainwashing, Cassandra Cain Cameo, Dimension Travel, Fix-It Fic Elements, Gen, Jinx Is A Comics/Cartoon Fusion, Lian Is Alive, Lisa Is A Lesbian, Multiverse, Not Kind to Mists of Avalon, Post-Apocalypse, Probably Not Compliant With Young Justice Season 3, Some Inspiration Taken From Legends of Tomorrow, Spitefic Elements, Stephanie Brown Cameo, etc. - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 22:36:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,962</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24175141</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsala/pseuds/Katsala</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Wally West ceases… and then he wakes up. Transported to a dead world by the strange Dr. Lang, she convinces him to lead a team of unconventional heroes to take down the multiverse-spanning threat of the Island of Avalon.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Artemis Crock/Wally West, Lana Lang/Lex Luthor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Just tell them, okay?</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally West woke up slowly, then all at once. His body felt sluggish and slow. He tried to move his arms, his legs, but something held them down, gripping him tight to the flat, cold table. He could barely move his head enough to see the wires, the tubes, the machines all around him. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hi,” a soft voice said. A woman. “Don’t worry. You’re safe, I promise.” Under her breath she muttered, “As safe as any of us can be.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Where,” Wally croaked out, “where am-“</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">A hand touched his shoulder. “It’s okay. Don’t try to talk yet.” She fiddled with one of the tubes, and suddenly his eyes grew even heavier. He drifted back to sleep. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He lost track of time, of how many times he’d woken up just to fall back asleep. After a while, the woman unstrapped his head, then his arms and legs. She told him her name was Leda. Leda Lang. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Leda was tall, with coppery hair cut in a blunt bob and wide blue eyes. Every time he saw her she was wearing a different pair of jeans and the same Superman t-shirt. He’d never seen her with shoes. She brought food- at first only broth and occasionally pudding, but eventually solids. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You almost died,” she told him as he ate a slice of sausage and onion pizza. “We had to make sure we got you at the very last second, so that the timeline didn’t shift. The Doc was worried about that.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally set down his pizza. “So… everyone back home, they think I’m dead.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Leda’s eyes went wet. “Yeah. I- I’m sorry, Flash.” She always called him Flash. “How do your legs feel?” she asked, changing the subject. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Better. The stretches are helping.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She nodded. “Tomorrow, I think. Tomorrow you can meet Dr. Lang. She’ll explain everything.” She squeezed his shoulder. Wally mustered up a smile for her before going in for his fifth slice of pizza. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He was going to need his strength. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally had been excited to stand up for the first time since he’d arrived. Now, all he wanted was to lay down again.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Leda clucked over him like a mother hen. “It’s normal, unfortunately. Absorbing all that energy and then being stuck in a bed for two weeks…”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I still refuse to call that,” he said, pointing at the metal slab, “a bed.” He tried to ignore the shaking and the twinges of pain in his legs. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I got you a pillow,” Leda protested, handing him a cane. He raised an eyebrow at her. “There’s no shame in it. But…” Her eyes twinkled. “I might have another option.” She held out her hand, and, hesitantly, he took it. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He shivered as the sensation spread. It felt like invisible vines were creeping up his legs, clinging, binding. The shaking stopped. He felt oddly cradled, like when he was a little kid and his mother had tucked him into bed, snug as a bug. He was suddenly sure he could run for miles. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally smiled at Leda. “Nice. How are you doing this?”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Tactile telekinesis. At least, that’s what the Doc calls it. Just one of my many talents,” she joked.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">They set off through the hallways, hand-in-hand. The hallways were bare, walls and floor both paneled in metal, and every door was shut. Their footsteps echoed through the facility, which seemed to be completely empty except for them. Finally they came to an open door. A string of Christmas lights was hung over the doorframe, blinking merrily. A woman who looked remarkably like Leda was sitting on a beanbag chair, chewing on the end of a pen as she typed away at a computer. He assumed this must be the Dr. Lana Lang that Leda had told him about. Beside her, a man made out of flickering light stood, watching over her shoulder as she worked. Wally recognized him immediately. It was Lex Luthor. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally dropped Leda’s hand as if it were burning. The force on his legs fell away, but he didn’t care. He took off like a rocket, running out of the room. He smashed into a wall, tried to correct, hit another one. By the time Leda started running after him, he’d ducked down into a stairwell. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He went from the fourth floor down to the first, falling once and smacking his face into a mounted fire extinguisher. Blood gushed from his mouth, but Leda was on his tail, flying after him like a cross between M’gann and Conner. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Finally out of the stairs, Wally spotted the front door. He put his shoulder down and smashed through it, finally outside-</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He froze.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Flash!” Leda landed next to him, panting. She grabbed his hand again, wrapping his legs back up in telekinetic force. She looked at his face, eyes going wide. “Oh, honey, you’re bleeding.” </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally said nothing. He looked out across the world. As far as the eye could see was destruction. Cars were overturned. Buildings were reduced to rubble. Even the sky looked dead, an unhealthy yellowish haze hanging above them. The complete silence seemed to surround them like fog. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was no sign of people. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“What happened?” He asked quietly. The taste of blood was heavy on his tongue. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Leda sighed. “Flash, please, just come back to the lab. The Doc will explain everything.” </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She tried to tug him back, but he didn’t budge. “Where are we? What city?” He demanded. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Leda laughed without humor. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Everywhere is like this.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Just tell me, Leda.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She sighed. “Metropolis.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally sat down on the ground. He tasted bile in the back of his throat. “The people?” </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“There’s nobody. It’s just us.” Leda knelt down in front of him, eyes tearing up. “Please, Flash. Wally. Come back to the lab.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally went back to the lab. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dr. Lang was still in her beanbag chair. She was attempting to hold hands with the hologram of Lex Luthor when they returned. Her eyes went wide when she saw the blood on Wally’s face. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You didn’t punch him, did you?” She asked Leda.</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I, uh, ran into a fire extinguisher,” Wally explained lamely. Leda helped him into a chair before letting go of his hand. She dampened a paper towel with a bottle of water and handed it to him so he could clean up. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I am sorry for the… shock,” Dr. Lang said diplomatically. “I’d forgotten things were so different in your universe.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You forgot I was a supervillain, dear. You can say it,” the hologram said kindly. </span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Only mostly! Sometimes you’re not!” She said, pointing at her computer. Luthor’s lips twitched. Dr. Lang turned back to Wally. “I’m Dr. Lang. You can call me Doc, or Lana. You’ve already met Leda, of course, and this is my husband, Lex Lang.” She stared up at him dreamily. “He took my name. Isn’t that romantic?” Luthor and Leda both coughed. “Anyway. I’m sure you’re wondering about what’s happened to the world.” She sighed. “And to explain that, I’ll have to explain Avalon.”</span>
</p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
<p class="p2"> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dr. Lana Lang was a computer scientist, specializing in alternative interfaces, who worked for S.T.A.R Labs in Metropolis. Her incredibly handsome husband, Lex, was a reporter for the Daily Planet. Her best friend, whose name she will not say out of respect for the dead, was a superhero who went by the moniker of Superman. Life was good. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And then they came. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Avalon was an island in a swamp that drifted through time and space and the multiverse. It appeared in the mists like magic, and it would tear your whole world down. There were legends about it if you searched hard enough. Legends of cannibalism, of perversion, of murder. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The day they came to Earth was like any other. Lana let herself sleep in by five minutes, kissed her husband goodbye when she left for work, listened to Blondie in the car. On the overpass, mist began to pour from the sky. Lana called Superman. He didn’t pick up. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The invasion lasted 23 hours. That was all they needed. Superman flew up into the mists; he didn’t return. Every superhero who could make it up to the island in the sky went. They never came back, either. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">People on the ground started to whisper the name “Morgaine.” “Morgaine of the Fairies,” they would say, “the Lady of the Lake, Duchess of Cornwall, she has come to take what she deserves.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lex started whispering it too. He couldn’t stop. He was doubled over in pain, trying to keep the words in, but they spilled out of him anyway. Lana brought him to the safest place she knew- the lab. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She had just finished hooking him up to about twenty different diagnostic machines when the explosions started. The superheroes had returned. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Her coworkers barricaded the building. Lana picked up a hammer and joined them, side by side. When she got back to her lab, Lex was worse. He didn’t even seem to recognize her. All he could do was mutter feverishly about the return of someone called the High King, about the Virgin Huntress being reborn. That was when Lana turned to her supervisor, Dr. Lane. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“We need to activate the Matrix.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Absolutely not,” Dr. Lane said. “The Matrix is completely untested. I don’t want to make this situation worse.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“How is this going to make things worse? The world is already ending, Lois!”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lane’s smile didn’t meet her eyes. “The world ends all the time, Lang.” She turned to go. “Stay with Lex. Let me know is there’s any changes.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lana looked back to where Lex was laying, curled up on her beanbag chair, knees to his chest, skin clammy. She walked over to him in two long steps; she knelt, whispered the words, “I love you,” against his lips, and kissed him. Then she left him there to go retrieve the Matrix. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Matrix, an artificial protoplasmic life-form synthesized from organic material found in Kansas, was kept in a secure tank in the lab’s basement. Despite it not being her area of expertise, Lana had been… fiddling with it, off and on, for years. Dr. Lane had doubts about its safety, but if Lana was right- and, according to Lex, she usually was- it could be used to replicate any living being. All they needed was a sample. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lana had exactly the sample she wanted: Kryptonian. Superman didn’t exactly know she’d taken a hair sample, but he had shaved in her bathroom once and she’d just wanted to run a few teensy-tiny tests on the remnants. She was glad she’d kept them now.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She’d just pulled the sample out of the fridge when she heard the intruder alert go off. The door to the basement slammed shut and auto-locked. Just like every door in the building. It was meant to keep the staff and the experiments safe in case of a break-in. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">That’s when the screaming started.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lana ran for the door, tried to pry it open. One of her nails cracked, and she barely noticed. She shouted Lex’s name until her voice went hoarse, until she couldn’t hear her coworkers anymore, until she somehow knew, in her heart, that he was dead. She closed her eyes. Deep breath in, deep breath out. She was wrong before; only now had they reached the point where it couldn’t get any worse. She went to get the sample and unceremoniously dumped the hair into the tank. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Nothing happened.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lana stared at the Matrix with wide eyes. “No. No. Come on, work, I know you work!” Nothing happened. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Suddenly the sound of squealing metal filled the air. Lana spun around to see the four-inch thick solid metal door collapse and fall to the floor. Standing behind it was Superman himself. Her farm boy. Her best friend.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She said his name, his real name, like a prayer. Quiet. Pleading. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He laughed dismissively. “That man is dead. The visage seen before thee is the High King.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">There was no point in running. No point in hiding. A man she’d known her whole life had killed her coworkers, her husband, and now he was going to kill her. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Please… please just make it quick,” she begged. He smiled at her and nodded, and her legs almost gave out in relief. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He flew at her like a rocket, his hand grabbing her neck, slamming her against the Matrix’s tank. Glass shards cut into her back and she couldn’t even scream, her throat blocked by his hand. He threw her across the room like a piece of trash. As he stared down at her laying on the floor, his eyes beginning to glow red, she thought of Lex. She wanted him to be the last thing in her mind. Alexander Lang. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Behind Superman, the Matrix had begun to glow. The form of a woman appeared. It reached its newly-formed hand out and grabbed Superman’s arm. A faint shimmer, like the air above a hot asphalt road, spread over his eyes. The blast of heat vision aimed at Lana didn’t fire, instead being pushed against his own face. He screamed, grasping at his burnt skin as he fell to the floor. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Matrix said, voice soft, “I can do worse. Leave while you still can. Never come back.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Superman fled. Lana looked up at her savior, the Matrix, and it was like looking in the mirror, at the twin she’d never had. She touched her back gingerly, feeling blood. Any living being, she thought. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Matrix helped her up. “Are you alright?” She asked. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lana shook her head. “My husband- I have to see him. He might still be-“ She couldn’t even finish the sentence. She knew as she limped up the stairs, blood oozing from her cuts. She knew before she reached the doorway of her lab. She knew.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lex was lying on the floor, his ribcage crushed. His head was intact; blood had trickled out from between his lips.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">His head was intact.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Dr. Lana Lang was a computer scientist, specializing in alternative interfaces, who worked for S.T.A.R Labs in Metropolis. One of the two most important men in her life was gone, and she was not losing the other. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lana sat down at her computer and started to program. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She’d done this before, of course, though only with mice. She knew she could only make the transfer with a fresh corpse. It would take her almost three hours; she could only choose one person. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She didn’t even have to think about it. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The Matrix stood guard while Lana worked. She, not Lana, saw when the mist cleared and the island in the sky disappeared. She was the one who piled up the bodies in the basement. She was the one who searched the city for survivors, coming up empty. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Three hours later, Lex Lang flickered back to life. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">It was just the three of them after that. Lana at her desk, Lex at her side, and the Matrix- Leda, as she chose to be called- searching the dead world. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The years passed. Leda started a farm. Lana started analyzing the leftover energy readings from Avalon. Lex, hooked up into the S.T.A.R Lab network, shut off the lights and played lullabies through the intercom when they’d stayed up over 48 hours.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lana didn’t leave her lab. She promised herself she would never leave Lex again. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Eventually she managed to configure a system to travel between worlds, through time and space, like Avalon had. It was smaller scale, able to work on a few people but not an entire island. Lana watched the multiverse spread out before her on a computer screen, formulating revenge, but more importantly, making a team. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">And if he agreed, Wally West, Kid Flash, would lead it. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally nodded, a bit overwhelmed. “Okay. I’m not saying yes, but if I did, what does this team even look like?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The doc looked as relieved as if he had already agreed. “I’ve run some possibilities. I was mostly focused on people who would be easy to extract from their timelines, would be able to work together, would agree to it in the first place… but I may have found some room for, shall we say, creative substitution.” She gestured to Leda, who was still holding Wally’s hand. “You’ve already met our clone of Superman. As for the others, we have-“</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>
    <span class="s1">“-the ambiguously gay fish person-“</span>
  </em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lisa Morel was on a date and it was terrible. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He was a friend of a friend of a friend and she’d been assured he was a great guy, but after the third impromptu poem about the beauty of her purple eyes, she was convinced that a free dinner wasn’t worth it. She tried not to scream in relief when she heard the commotion out back. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She slung back the rest of her chocolate milkshake, gave… Ronald? Probably Ronald. Gave Ronald a dazzling smile and said, “I’m gonna go freshen up,” before slinking off towards the bathroom and ducking out the back exit of the diner. As if they were waiting there just for her was a pair of redheads, a boy and a girl. The girl was floating in the air looking just shy of smug, and the boy had fallen onto a pile of wooden pallets, splintering them. Both were dressed in strange clothes- the girl was barefoot and dressed in jeans and a Superman t-shirt, while the boy was in a yellow super-suit with a Flash symbol on the chest. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lisa stared at them wide-eyed and excited, feeling underdressed in her gingham-and-lace dress and Mary Jane shoes. Her Aquagirl costume felt like it was burning a hole in her purse. She hoped they were aliens; she hadn’t gotten to do aliens yet.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Hi,” the girl said, floating closer to the ground and offering Lisa a hand to shake. She took it, marveling at how soft her skin was. “Are you Lisa Morel?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lisa nodded. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Great! I’m Matrix, but you can call me Leda, and this is Kid Flash.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Kid Flash grinned up at her from the pallet pile. “Funny story, we’re kinda putting together a team of superheroes to save the multiverse. You wanna come?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lisa stamped her foot happily. “Oh my gosh, yes! Aquaman is going to be so annoyed you asked me instead of him!”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>
    <span class="s1">“-the beautiful alien telepath-“</span>
  </em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Elisra Arddock feinted left and punched right. The training dummy didn’t notice. Spider-Boy, who was watching from the ceiling, did. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I still don’t get why you’re bothering practicing hand-to-hand combat when you’re the best telepath on the planet.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Elisra smiled with a patience she didn’t feel. ‘I don’t like, as the saying goes, resting on my laurels. I’d rather be over-prepared than under.’</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yeah, but-“</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Mig-el. If you’re bored, go do something besides annoying me. We’re in New London City. Take Martinex 5 to the Coney Eye or something.’</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You could come with us. We’ll be like the three musketeers! Marti loves that book. He’s very well-read.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Elisra went for a series of jabs on the dummy. ‘If you’re trying to be a wingman, it’s not working.’</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Spider-Boy laughed. He jumped off the ceiling, landing next to her, and slapped her genially on the back. “I plead the fifth!” He swaggered out of the gym, presumably to go get Marti.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Once she was sure he was gone she kicked the dummy in the head. It toppled to the floor with a ‘whump’. Wiping sweat off her forehead she said, without even bothering to pretend to move her mouth, ‘You can come out now.’</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She’d only done a cursory reading on the two minds that had shown up in the supply closet, but she was sure Leda and Wally, wherever they’d come from, meant no harm. The others would want to punch first, though, and she probably wouldn’t get the full story for hours.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Why didn’t you tell him we were here?” Leda asked as they emerged. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Elisra shrugged. ‘I’m bored, too.’ Being stuck 108 years in the past was starting to grate on her nerves. Plus, if the buzzing thoughts Leda was having about time and space travel were true, they could help her and the Yancy Legion reunite with the Legion of Galactic Guardians in 2099. Win-win.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Well then, Psi-Girl, we have an offer you’re going to love,” Wally told her. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>
    <span class="s1">“-the Batman-aligned try-hard-“</span>
  </em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Betty Kane wasn’t nearly as stupid as Robin thought she was. She knew when she was being stuck with the shit jobs. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to do it, but she was well within her rights to complain the entire time. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Watch the back door, Bat-Girl,” she muttered under her breath in a bad imitation of the Boy Wonder. “Stand outside in the middle of the night in December in Gotham, Bat-Girl. Don’t get in our way, Bat-Girl.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She heard what she thought were footsteps behind her, and she whirled around, Bird-A-Rang in hand, to see… nothing. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She shook her head, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Get it together, girlie.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She turned back to face the warehouse, completely mentally unprepared for when the flashbang grenade sailed out of a broken window and exploded six feet away from her. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">-sssssssssssssss-</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Betty blinked. She was laying on the ground, cheek against cold concrete. She saw the blurry figure of Clayface escaping the warehouse. Robin was hot on his heels, shouting over his shoulder, “Bat-Girl! You need to be more careful!”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She hated that asshole and his crappy aim so much. She was going to strangle him one day. What she said instead of that was, “Not to worry, Robin! Just make sure he doesn’t get away!” And then she laid there on the ground and felt like a liar while she tried to ignore the ringing in her ears. She bit her lip, drawing blood. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Betty rolled over onto her back. “Kid Flash! Are you after that rogue Clayface too?” She winked at him, ignoring a surge of nausea. “Give me a hand up, will you, hero-boy?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He helped her stand. She was still a bit off-balance from the flashbang, and took the opportunity to wrap her arms around his neck. She would have to thank Robin for this later. She adored that boy.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m after someone even worse than Clayface, Batgirl. I-“</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She unwrapped her arms from his neck and pulled out a Bird-A-Rang. “You didn’t say the hyphen.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“…there’s a hyphen?” He asked, bewildered. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Yes, there is, and Kid Flash always says the hyphen. Who the fuck are you?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Kid Flash sighed. “Well, the short answer is that I’m him from another universe and I’ve come here to recruit you for a superhero team on a mission to defeat a King Arthur-themed supervillainess.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Betty smiled guilelessly and slipped her Bird-A-Rang back onto her belt. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it? And it certainly sounds important. I’d love to go, as long as you can get me back,” she lied. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Awesome.” He looked over her shoulder. “We’re ready to go! Did you lose him?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Betty turned and let out a surprised ‘eep’ when she saw Clayface flying toward them, which she was pretty sure he couldn’t even do, but before she could react he shimmered and reformed into the shape of a redheaded woman. “Yup! And I’ve got to say, it’s fun pretending to be another shapeshifter!”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>
    <span class="s1">“-the fiery archer with a sketchy family-“</span>
  </em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lian Harper was leaning backwards in her chair, tapping out the rhythm of the Friends theme song with her pencil and trying to pay attention to Mr. Dover explaining limits and continuity, when she looked out the window. Her heart skipped a beat. Wally West was standing in the bushes, staring at her through the glass.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lian closed her eyes, counted to five, and opened them again. He was still there. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">‘Three minutes,’ she mouthed to him, giving him her most epic stink-eye. She flipped her notebook closed, picked up her backpack, and tried to covertly scoot out the back of the classroom. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Where are you going, Miss Harper?” Mr. Dover asked without looking away from the SmartBoard. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“The bathroom.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Then you can leave your backpack here.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lian shifted from foot to foot. “I need it. It’s a girl thing.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The more immature boys laughed and Mr. Dover turned pink, waving her wordlessly on her way. Lian scurried out of the room and through the hallway, ducked through a side door, and met up with Wally in the bushes, making sure to not get seen through the window.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I told you,” she hissed at him, “school is off limits! If this isn’t a world ending emergency, I’m gonna kill you.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“It actually is,” a voice from nowhere said. Lian squeaked, falling on her ass. “Sorry,” the voice continued sheepishly. A redheaded woman appeared out of what had seemed like thin air. One day, when Lian was head of the Justice League, she would put bells on every jerk blessed with invisibility. “We need your help to save the multiverse.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lian considered this. “Okay. If it gets me out of calculus, I’ll listen.” </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>
    <span class="s1">“-the so-called bad girl magic user-“</span>
  </em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jinx (also known as Jayanti Joshi, but only to her mother back in India) let a smile creep across her face when Shimmer, her hairdresser, turned the chair around. She ran her fingers through her new blunt bob accompanied by straight bangs. She’d gotten her dye-job redone as well, the bubblegum pink bright against her darker skin. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I love it,” she said, tilting her head to watch her hair fall. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Shimmer smirked. “He’ll be sorry for sure, babe.” She cracked her gum and held her hand out for payment. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jinx handed it to her in cash- “borrowed” from Kid’s apartment- with a 25% tip. She stood, brushing stray pink hairs off her black tunic top, and headed for the door. Out the window of the salon, she saw two flashes of red hair that made her stomach twist. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Squaring her shoulders, Jinx walked right past him, saying nothing. She tried her hardest not to look either, but she still saw the girl he was with. She was, of course, gorgeous- practically a copper-haired Barbie doll. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Jinx,” he started. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Not in the mood, Kid,” she grit out, combat boots hitting the pavement with more force than necessary. She had planned on lunch out and shopping after her haircut, but now all she wanted to do was go home and, probably, text Kole all night to vent. Jinx was lucky the girl was such a saint. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Uh, can we talk?” He asked, keeping pace with her easily. His hair was spiked up instead of slicked back, and his shoulders were somehow broader than they had been when he left, and she wanted to punch something. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Pinching the bridge of her nose, Jinx grabbed him by his collar and dragged him into an alleyway. “Three months,” she hissed, trying to tamp down on her urge to cause a massive scene. “You leave for three months to go on a space mission with the Titans without telling me, and then you come back with your Barbie doll girlfriend and say, ‘Hey, Jinx, can we talk?’ Go to hell, West.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I’m not his girlfriend,” the Barbie piped up. “And he’s not your ex. This is going to sound weird, but we’re actually from a different universe and we came here to invite you to join our team.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jinx sighed and checked her watch. “You have five minutes, and then I’m leaving. Talk.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>
    <span class="s1">“-the space-themed wildcard-“</span>
  </em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Razer of Volkreg, newly anointed Blue Lantern, didn’t bother to open his eyes. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Can I help you?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The person he’d sensed watching him giggled and sat down next to him. “That depends. Are you Razer of Volkreg?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">He cracked an eye. An objectively pretty young woman was sitting next to him, legs crisscrossed, chin propped up on her fist. Standing in front of the only door to the ship’s storage room was a young man trying to look inconspicuous. He might have succeeded if Razer didn’t know better. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“You were not aboard this ship when we left the transport yard.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Nope,” the boy said cheerfully.</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The girl nodded at Razer’s Power Ring. “What do I hope for? If you don’t mind me asking, of course.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Razer closed his eyes and reached out, tapping into her emotions. She had a well of hidden sadness, of fear and sharp, jagged anger, but he pushed those aside, searching for her answer. He opened his eyes. “You hope for your mother to leave her lab.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She smiled. “It almost sounds selfish, put like that.” She reached out carefully and took his hand. “We need your help with something, Razer.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I have my own mission,” he told her, thinking of Aya. He knew she was still out there somewhere; he believed it so strongly it sometimes hurt. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The woman bit her lip. “I might be able to help with that. Or my mother might, at least.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Razer’s eyes narrowed. “Name your price.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <em>
    <span class="s1">“-and, of course, the loveable asshole with daddy issues.“</span>
  </em>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jason Todd was not technically robbing a bank. This was actually a shell corporation run by aliens or demons or something that had a vault full of money. Completely different. He was also certain that nobody else had made the connection yet, which was why he was surprised when he rounded a corner in the vent system and came face-to-face with Jinx. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">She grinned and wiggled her fingers at him. She was wearing a blue and red earpiece from which he heard a woman complaining, “I still don’t get why she’s allowed to do this one alone.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jinx tapped the earpiece. “Okay, one, I have apologized for the Barbie doll comments, two, he’s my bridge partner and he owes me a favor. I’m the best chance you’ve got, Leda,” she said venomously sweetly. She turned back to Jason. “So, Red X, want to go on a multiversal mission that will make Robin jealous for the rest of his life? Additional prizes include a supply of untraceable Xenothium for your power belt.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I don’t like playing the hero, Jinxy.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Doesn’t mean you don’t know how,” she shot back at him. “And… I’ve seen it,” she said, pursing her lips. “This is one you’ll want to make an exception for.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Can I finish my job before we go?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Jinx turned off her earpiece. “Sure. If I’m right and this isn’t actually a bank, I’ll even help.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“How did you figure it out?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I saw the janitor melt into a puddle of blood and took a guess.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Wally laughed. “I wish I could disagree with those archetypes but they’re all so accurate.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">The doc ran her hand through her hair, smiling with a bit of embarrassment. “I was kinda sloshed when I wrote them up.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Where do you get the alcohol?”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“I make beer,” Leda told him proudly. </span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">“Cool.” He paused. “I’m still not agreeing to be the leader, though.”</span>
</p><p class="p2"> </p><p class="p1">
  <span class="s1">Lex snorted. “Sure. We believe you.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Lisa Morel- 1960s Aquagirl<br/>Elisra Arddock- Amalgam Universe combination of Imra Ardeen (Saturn Girl) and Elizabeth Braddock (Psylocke)<br/>Betty Kane- Original Bat-Girl (note spelling)<br/>Lian Harper- Variation on the character as an established teenaged superhero called Shooting Star<br/>Jinx/Jayanti Joshi- Slight fusion between comic book!Jinx and Teen Titans!Jinx<br/>Razer- Character from Green Lantern: The Animated Series<br/>Jason Todd/Red X- Slight fusion between comic book!Jason Todd and Teen Titans!Red X</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Stephanie Brown, one of the few government-sanctioned costumed heroes in the French-American Federation, dropped from a balcony and landed, light on her feet, in an alleyway illuminated by the light of the moon. When she saw her partner, Saint Jeanne D’Arc- better known to Stephanie as Cassandra Cain- she smiled and pulled down the purple hood of her Saint Margaret Mary costume. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Is there any word of trouble tonight, sister?” She asked. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Cassandra nodded. “Message from Mademoiselle Gordon. Man dressed like bat. Near Crime Alley.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Stephanie laughed at the audacity. “In Gotham City, without a license? Only a Brit would be so foolish,” she said, gesturing to the west where the British Territories bordered her country. “Let us show him the error of his ways,” she said, pulling her hood back up.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Crime Alley wasn’t far away, being located near the center of their jurisdiction. They spotted the bat-man near the clinic, a small, strange metal box in his hand. He flicked his finger and a small flame appeared. Stephanie caught a whiff of kerosene on the wind, making her heart leap. She quickly pulled out her pistol and fired a warning shot into the air, shouting, “Halt in the name of the French Empire!” The man didn’t even seem to hear her. He lit the clinic in a swirling burst of fire.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">No words were needed between the Saints. Stephanie ran towards the fire, bursting through the door to search for civilians in the building. Cassandra ran straight for the bat, fists ready. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">The building’s clapboard exterior licked with flame, the heat sharp against Stephanie’s lungs. She pulled her hood over her mouth and tried to breathe through the fabric. She soon located the lady physician, Dr. Thompson, as well as two young patients; they both looked to be around ten years old and had the inflamed eyes and spotty rashes of measles. Dr. Thompson carried one and Stephanie carried the other. They made their way out the door just before the thatch roof collapsed in a shower of sparks. Stephanie, coughing, told Dr. Thompson, “Call for the fire brigade, and keep the children safe. We shall handle the rest.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Margaret Mary!” she heard Cassandra cry. Stephanie turned to see her friend convulsing, two metal spines stuck into her arm. The bat was holding a box that clicked rapidly as she writhed. Not even the British had that kind of weaponry, Stephanie knew. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">She pulled out her pistol and fired at him. Her aim struck true, the round hitting him in the shoulder. Stephanie ran towards him and threw her body against his, knocking him to the ground. Cassandra stirred behind her as Stephanie punched the man in the jaw. She crawled over, groaning, and quickly tied his hands. Stephanie leaned back, noting the bat’s odd belt. She unfastened it and threw it away with disgust. She’d have it burned if she could get away with it, but the French could learn much from studying its contents. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Are you alright?” She asked Cassandra. Cassandra nodded, eyes hard.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">The fire brigade was on the scene now, and would hopefully keep the blaze from spreading. Running in behind them was a petite young woman with dark hair. As she grew closer, Stephanie recognized her as Mademoiselle Harris, Mademoiselle Gordon’s faithful assistant. She lingered back, watching as Cassandra tied up the bat’s feet as well. “Is alright. Speak,” Cassandra told her. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Mademoiselle Harris, looking near tears, said, “I come with another message from Mademoiselle Gordon. We have had word of more strangers like the one you have fought, not just in Gotham but across the country. There have also been rumors of some kind of island in the sky, where- where-“ the girl began to shiver. “Morgaine,” she said, as if she couldn’t stop the words from spilling out. “Morgaine of the Fairies, Duchess of Cornwall, she has come-“</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Okay. How about Cold Iron?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“What does that even mean?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Aquagirl glared at Red X. “It’s one of the most common weaknesses of fairies in folklore. How do you not know that?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Because I’m not a fucking nerd.” He leaned over and stole one of her fries, making her squeak indignantly. The whole group was seated in S.T.A.R Lab’s cafeteria. Betty herself was seated between Kid Flash and Shooting Star, and was occupying herself by keeping her foot as close to Kid’s as possible without them physically touching. Razer, the Blue Lantern Guy, wasn’t even sitting at the table, instead meditating in the corner. Everyone else was absorbed in Aquagirl’s conversation on team names.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“What about-“</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Betty interrupted, “It should have something to do with the Teen Titans. Instead of Titans East or Titans West, we could be, like, Titans Deep.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“I don’t care what reality I’m in, I am not being a Titan,” Red X protested. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Seconded. My dad was a Teen Titan, it’d be too weird for me,” Star chimed in.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“What do you think, Kid?” Betty asked, fluttering her eyelashes at him.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Baywatch,” he said without hesitation. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Before anyone could reply, the intercom cracked to life. “Unnamed team, report to Lana’s lab,” Lex said. “Repeat, unnamed team to Lana’s lab. We’re ready.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">When the shimmery silver light faded,nine heroes stood in a street in the moonlight, lightly obscured by falling mist. The stars were clearer than anywhere Betty had seen in the 1960s, and the stone buildings were beautifully intricate. When Betty looked down the street, however, she could see plain wooden buildings and the start of a slum.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“What the hell. I thought the doc said we were dropping in Gotham,” Jinx said flatly. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“She did,” Kid Flash agreed, nose wrinkling. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Then why are we in Rococo France?” Jinx demanded. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">The doc’s voice, tinny on Kid’s universal communicator, said, “Technically it is Gotham, it’s just Gotham in the 1700s in an America partially colonized by France.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“How did you even recognize the architectural style?” Star asked Jinx. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Jinx sighed. “I went through a Lolita phase, okay?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Betty coughed uncomfortably. “Like… the Nabakov novel?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“No, not the-“</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Something huge and blue and solid slammed into Leda, crashing through a nearby building and out the other side. Betty hit the deck- it had brushed so close to her it sent her hair flying. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Kid, seriousness entering his eyes, said, “Psi-Girl and Razer, you’re our two fliers. Split up and take Star and Aquagirl up to the island; you’ll attack while we distract them on the ground. Everyone else, we’re going after Matrix.” He sped away in a streak of yellow. Betty was getting ready to follow when Psi-Girl grabbed her shoulder.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Take this,” she said, slipping a large golden ring emblazoned with the number 2099 onto Betty’s finger. “Just focus and you’ll be able to fly; I’ll stay here. If I’m right, he’ll be weak to my telepathy.” </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">She ran off after Kid, along with Jinx and Rex X. Betty turned to Aquagirl and opened her arms. “Ready for a wild ride?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Aquagirl blushed but stepped into her grasp. They ascended towards the source of the mist.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Elisra watched as Kid Flash punched the so-called High King off of Leda with a single punch. Leda, shaking herself off, grabbed a piece of rubble and chucked it at the king’s head before invisibility rippled over her body and she vanished. The stone shattered on impact. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Jinx snapped her fingers and the king’s feet sank into the dirt street. It was a short-lived distraction, but it gave Kid an opportunity to get another hit in before he flew up out of reach. Red X tapped his belt and teleported up to him, jumping on the king’s back. He hacked away at the king’s throat with an X-shaped shuriken, seeming to only make him mad. He flew backwards, smashing Red X into a building. He teleported again, landing on the ground next to Elisra.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Feel like helping?” He asked her, holding his side.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">She held up a finger. ‘Working on it now.’ </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">It was hard to tell with his mask on, but she was pretty sure he rolled his eyes.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Leda reappeared in a flash, uppercutting the king in the chin. Before she could disappear again he grabbed her right arm and wrenched it out of its socket with a pop. Leda laughed, and a shimmer like heat on the highway covered the two of them; they plummeted to the ground. With the enemy in reach, Kid zoomed over and unleashed a fury of punches while Leda held on to the king for dear life to keep him from flying again. Behind them, Jinx waved her hands as if conducting an invisible symphony, and bricks and stones came loose from the buildings, speeding over to hit the king. The rubble never came close to hitting either of her allies.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Red X was still looking at Elisra. “Any second now, Psycho-Girl.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Elisra finally felt her mind slip into his. She gasped, stumbling, and Red X caught her. ‘Sorry. He had something shielding him, but I got through- now I just need to-‘ she clenched her mind like a brawler would their fist, and the fight went out of the High King. He ragdolled under Leda and Kid’s grasp. ‘It’s temporary,’ Elisra cautioned them. ‘I can probably hold it for five minutes at max. Something’s done a number on him.’</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Can you help him?” Kid asked.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Elisra dug a bit deeper. ‘No. Not now. Whatever has taken control of his mind has had him for too long. He’s… well, he’s soup.’</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Leda’s eyes softened. “Poor thing,” she said, running her hand through his hair. “Flash, be a dear and pop my shoulder back in, would you?” He did so, fast and with a visceral crunch, and Leda winced. She leaned over and used Kid’s earpiece to tell the doc, “Can I place an order for an ice pack when we get home?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Order placed. Be careful, kiddo.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“So what, do we just kill him?” Jinx asked. Everyone one besides Red X turned to stare at her. She threw up her hands defensively. “Well, what else are we supposed to do? He’s mass-murdering soup!”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Fair point. But if anyone gets the honors, it’s Leda,” Kid decided.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Leda nodded solemnly. She put her hands on either side of his head and planted her feet firmly. “Look away, please.” Elisra dutifully averted her eyes, only hearing the snapping and cracking of Leda ripping the head off.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Everyone was silent for a moment. Finally, Kid said, “How are the others doing?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Elisra tried to lock onto one of their minds high in the sky, but each of them eluded her. The only feedback she received was like static on a television. “No clue. Something up there is blocking me.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“How do we get up there?” Leda asked. “I mean, I can fly so I’m not worried, and I can carry at least one of you, but more than that and there’s a risk of someone falling.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Perhaps we can assist with that,” a lightly French-accented voice said from the darkness. Two young women, one blonde in a purple suit with a matching hood and one with black hair and a black costume accented with silver crosses, stepped into view. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Who are you?” Leda asked.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Saint Margaret Mary,” the dark-haired girl said, gesturing to her friend. “Saint Jeanne D’Arc.” She waved. “Salut.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“If you want to reach the island, we can help. The University of Gotham is only a few blocks away. Our friend there, Professor Jason Todd, has a prototype of a flying machine.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Professor Jason Todd?” Red X asked, voice strained. “Seriously?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Yes,” Saint Margaret Mary said. “Have you heard of his work?”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“…not exactly.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“There’s no time to waste,” Kid told them. “Let’s fly.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">The saints nodded and began to lead the way. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">The lake around the Island of Avalon was swampy and colored dull gray. Somehow the water didn’t fall, even though it was only held in place by a thin layer of tall reeds. Betty didn’t trust it enough to land on it and kept going until they reached land. Betty and Blue Lantern set down their passengers in a glade of withered oak trees. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Creepy,” Betty muttered. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">The mist had grown thicker, obscuring the moonlight. It pooled around them almost like Leda’s tactile telekinesis. Shooting Star pulled a small flashlight out of her utility belt, and Blue Lantern raised his ring, which glowed with a soft blue light. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Ooh, it’s like we’re in a club,” Star joked. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Aquagirl snorted. “You don’t go clubbing. You’re like, twelve years old.” She started walking. “Come on. Let’s find the crazy lady.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“I’m fifteen,” Star said petulantly, but she followed. Blue walked side by side with her, and Betty brought up the rear. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">They wandered for a while through the mists. Aside from some houses made of mud and sticks, there wasn’t much to see. Betty was actually a little disappointed. Then, as they rounded a corner, they saw her.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Illuminated in blue light, the woman was tall and beautiful. Her long jet black hair spilled around her shoulders like ink; her armor, colored red, blue, gold, and silver, shone brightly even in the dim light. Her eyes, however, were cold and arrogant. Even just the way she held herself, chin tilted back and shoulders slouched with confidence, made Betty want to punch her in the face. The symbol of a star on her headband was crudely scratched off and covered up by a messy blue crescent moon. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">The thing that used to be Wonder Woman opened her mouth. “The unenlightened are permitted not to be on Avalon. I, Virgin Huntress Reborn, Lady of the Lake, command you leave.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Blue Lantern, not bothering to respond, shot a bolt of bright blue energy directly at her face. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">The ‘Lady of the Lake’ ducked out of the way, yelping, and shouted, “Knights! Protect your benefactress!” </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">From the shadows came three costumes heroes. Two Betty recognized as Green Arrow and Captain Marvel, but the third, a tall, shaggy-haired man in a black and blue costume, she’d never seen before. She shrugged and decided to fling her Bird-A-Rangs at him first. He dodged nimbly out of the first one’s path with a ridiculous twirling motion that left him open to the second one, which hit him in the back. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Betty ran in, excitement bubbling up in her chest the way it always did before a tennis game, or a gymnastics routine, or a kickboxing round. Shaggy Boy got two quick glancing hits on her, one in the shoulder and one in the gut, but she rocked him harder. Her feet, shining faintly blue, connected with enhanced force and knocked him to the ground. She grinned at Blue-</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">-and, in the few seconds of distraction, she was hit. The arrow, topped with a green boxing glove, slammed into her side and sent her tumbling into the mists. Blinded, she tripped over a low set of stones and fall into water. The brackish, nasty stuff got in her mouth. She resurfaced, coughing, her head feeling distinctly foggy.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">The taste of the water had suddenly changed. The murkiness turned to sweetness, the disgust to refreshment. Betty blinked water out of her eyes, hauled herself out of the well, and lay on her back on the ground. She caught a glimpse of her own hair, long and blonde and gorgeous, and anger rose in her chest. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Are you alright, Bat-Girl?” Star asked. The girl had run over, flashlight in hand, and reached down to help Betty up. She stumbled, dizzy. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“I’m fine,” she lied. Memories were flooding into her head now, thicker than the mist. She remembered coming to this island what felt like a lifetime ago. She remembered her nephew who became her lover, and her idol that became her only ally. Anything and everything that had happened in her new life ceased to matter- Betty had never been real, because she had once been Niniane, Priestess of Avalon. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Star turned to head back to the fight, satisfied her ‘friend’ was fine. Niniane pulled out her grappling gun and shot Star in the back with it.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Star scream, buckling and hitting the ground. Niniane grabbed her legs and started dragging the girl to the well. Blue Lantern, all the way from downtown, hit her with a beam of blue light. Hope bubbled up inside her again, but she pushed it down. Tentacles of blue light gripped her arms; she fought against them, straining and flailing, but only managed to accidentally kick Star.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Hey, Blue!” Aquagirl called. “I hope for SHAZAM!”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Niniane didn’t know what that meant, but when she turned to look at Aquagirl, the opponent she had been fighting had turned into a young boy. She effortlessly took him out and tied his hands.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“My Lady!” Niniane called out desperately, hoping for Morgaine’s help. There was no answer. With what remained of her ability of the Sight, Niniane saw Morgaine, tall and lovely, beginning to cast a spell to move the island through the mists once more. Niniane didn’t know whether she would be brought along or fall from the sky as her home vanished beneath her. She prayed to the Goddess for the former. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Star finally stood, wincing. Niniane snarled at her, wishing she had severed her spine. “Look,” she said, pointing. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Niniane turned her head to see a floating basket held aloft by what looked like a large sail inflated by fire. The rest of her former teammates were aboard, as well as a pair of young women with regalia similar to that of a Christian. Niniane tried to recoil, but the blue constructs around her brought her over to the basket instead.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Hurry,” Blue Lantern said. “My constructs are not as solid as a Green Lantern’s.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Can you still fix her?” Kid Flash asked Psi-Girl urgently. The woman nodded, laying one hand against Betty’s cheek and two fingers on her own temple.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">(Betty Kane knew why she’d become a superhero. She was bored. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">She got bored of winning. That’s why she quit tennis, then gymnastics, then kickboxing. Winning and championships and silver medals didn’t matter when it didn’t make you happy. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Betty Kane also knew why she’d stayed a superhero. She knew why she got up everyday, body aching, and fought crime alongside a boy she lusted after who would never respect her and a man who saw her as a liability while she saw him as a father. She had finally found something in the world that was more important than herself.)</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Betty resurfaced. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“…why are we in a hot air balloon?” she asked sleepily. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Leda laughed, eyes watery, and reached over to hold Betty’s hand. A gentle force wrapped around her like a blanket, keeping her steady. “We’ll tell you all about it later. For now, just let us be glad you’re not soup.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Once they’d said goodbye to the Saints, Lana transported them back to the her world. Wounds were tended, stories were swapped, and a seven-layer dip preprepared by Leda was ravaged. Wally only ate about half of it himself. He decided they would debrief in the morning, and went to take a shower.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">When he got back to his room, AKA an empty lab with a mattresses on the floor in the corner, she was waiting for him. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Bat-Girl, wearing only a bra and underwear, sat up on his bed, expression eager. “You’re here! Wonderful.” Her smooth, tan legs fell open ever-so-slightly. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“My fifteen-year-old self is going to be so disappointed in me,” he muttered to herself. “Wrong bed, Bat-Girl,” he told her.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">She tried to roll her eyes while fluttering her eyelashes. It sort of just made her look nauseated. “Oh, come on, Wally. It’s one night. What’s the harm? It’s just me.” She tucked her hair behind her ears, showing off more of her face. She was absolutely gorgeous, and all he could think about was Artemis. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Betty.” He sat down on the floor in front of the mattress, keeping at least five feet between them. “It’s not that I’m not flattered, but I have a girlfriend back home, and you only want this because of… because of what happened today.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">She gave a small, bitter laugh. “Great. No matter what universe I’m in, I can’t get a guy.” And then she started crying. And once she started, it seemed like she physically couldn’t stop. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Wally sighed. He grabbed a sheet from off the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. He took her hand, wishing he could do something like Leda could and just wrap her up, or read her mind and know exactly what she needed like M’gann. Silently, he waited it out. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Slowly, the hiccuping stopped. She avoided his gaze, face red and nose dripping. “Sorry. I’m sorry, I’m such a mess.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“It’s okay. You went through a lot.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">She nodded. “Feeling those things, thinking those things… I never want to be like that again. If it happens again and you can’t fix me, I want to be dead. I want you to kill me.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“I will. I promise.” He didn’t know if he meant it, but she smiled regardless. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“It’s not just that. I haven’t been… I haven’t been dealing well, lately.” She closed her eyes, sterling herself. “I started seeing a psychiatrist. He diagnosed me with a, uh, with a Hysterical Personality. And it felt good, you know, to have a label on it, but it just sucks to have to admit to myself that there’s something wrong.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">Wally leaned over and hugged her. She tucked her head under his chin and squeezed him back tightly. “I won’t tell anyone if you’d don’t want me to, and you don’t have into either. But if you talked to the doc, she might be able to help.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Can you be there if I do?” she asked, voice muffled against his pajamas.</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“Sure.” He pulled back and flopped onto the mattress. He considered her for a second, then said, “You can stay if you want. We can sleep head-to-toe.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">She smiled. “I’d like that.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">He drifted off with thoughts of Artemis in his head. He dreamed of her surrounding him in a graveyard in front of a pair of headstones- one was hers from when they’d faked her death, and the other was his. She leaned in, loose blonde hair falling like a curtain of gold, and whispered in his ear, “The Legion of Nine.”</span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">He woke up. Star was shaking his shoulder, smirking at him. Betty’s feet were in his face. </span>
</p><p class="p1"> </p><p class="p2">
  <span class="s1">“I,” he told her proudly, “have just come up with an awesome team name.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Mademoiselle Harris=Wendy Harris, aka Proxy<br/>Lolita=fashion style<br/>Shaggy Boy=Nightwing<br/>Hysterical Personality=1960s term for Histrionic Personality Disorder</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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